Customer Reviews

Insect Ecology: An Ecosystem Approach

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Tim Schowalter's Insect Ecology is a versatile volume that provides a breadth of information for both the professional as well as the amateur entomologist. My students are frequently borrowing this book from my office library, and although I am forever reminding them to return it, what is a wonderful tribute to Tim's volume that it is in such great demand by undergraduates! The text ranges from individual insect chapters (1-4) to populations (5-7) to community ecology of insects (8-10), and then some appropriate special chapters such as herbivory and conservation toward the end. If anyone wants an entomology book that satisfies a variety of both classroom or expedition needs, this is the one to buy!

Insects are the most abundant animals on earth (even if they're absent from the oceans). They affect man's food and fibers. Insect pests of stored grain are the most economically important ones. Insect ecology has often been viewed as the study of these pests of fields and forests.

Timothy Schowalter's handsome book, Insect Ecology, presents the insects as components of ecological systems -- Ecosystems. In this context, insects appear as important cogs in forest and stream ecosystems, even essential ones.

The book moves from the study of individual insects (Chapters 1-4) and insect populations (Chapters 5-7) to Community Ecology, or assemblages of insect species (Chapters 8-10). At the ecosystem level, the importance of herbivory (Chapter 12), Pollination (Chapter 13) and Decomposition (Chapter 14) are considered. Chapter 15 evaluates insects as regulators of ecosystem processes.

A final synthesis reviews insect and ecosystem ecology in the context of conservation and restoration, pest management, and deteriorating environmental conditions.

I believe that Dr. Schowalter has put insects into their proper perspective, as dynamic and essential features of the natural landscape, be it terrestrial or aquatic. I recommend it to entomologists and ecologists alike, as well as naturalists who'd like a better grasp of the function of our ecosystems.

D. A. Crossley, Jr.
April 28, 2009